Luzerne County releases new 561-page hazard mitigation plan

Luzerne County released a new 561-page hazard mitigation plan intended to educate and prepare citizens and officials about potential natural and man-made disasters.

Required every five years, the document is packed with charts and maps and describes in great detail projected risks and the impact on people and structures.

Devon Benne, of plan consultant Michael Baker International Inc., briefed county council on the plan at last week’s work session to prepare for council adoption at its next meeting. The county and all 76 municipalities must adopt the plan to remain eligible for federal pre- and post-disaster mitigation funds.

A copy of the plan may be viewed at www.pennsylvaniahmp.com/luzerne-county-hmp.

The natural hazards addressed in the plan include drought, earthquakes, extreme temperatures, flooding, hailstorms, intense storms, landslides, pandemics, radon exposure, subsidence and sinkholes, tornadoes and wildfires.

For example, the plan points out the county had nine droughts between 2000 and 2025.

It cautions a prolonged drought could affect 376 farms in the county that sold approximately $30.27 million in agricultural products in 2022, including the most predominant crops of grains, oilseeds and dry beans and peas. Residents who rely on approximately 29,400 private domestic water wells in the county also would be vulnerable, it said.

Another section on sinkholes may be of particular interest due to local occurrences, including a massive sinkhole that formed in Toby Creek in Luzerne in 2024 and a 2023 subsidence measuring 70 feet that opened behind a Newport Township apartment complex. The plan notes a sinkhole incident also had occurred at the Newport Township site 40 years ago.

The county has “a long history of sinkholes and subsidence,” the plan said.

According to the plan, sinkholes in Pennsylvania are also often due to subsurface mining. A strip of abandoned underground mines stretches across the Wyoming Valley along the Susquehanna River, and there also are mines in the Hazleton area, it said.

Subsidence and sinkholes also can be triggered by leaking water pipes, poorly managed stormwater and construction or land grading work that changes the stormwater flow, it said.

“If long-term subsidence or sinkhole formation is not recognized and mitigation measures are not implemented, fractures or complete collapse of building foundations and roadways may result,” the plan said. “If mitigation measures are not taken, the cost to fill in and stabilize sinkholes can be significant, although sinkholes are limited in extent.”

As expected, the plan’s section on flooding is extensive due to the Susquehanna River and intricate web of streams and creeks flowing through it.

All but seven municipalities in the county have identified “special flood hazard areas” deemed to have risks associated with flooding, the plan said. Those without special flood hazard areas, it said, are: Hazleton city and the boroughs of Freeland, Hughestown, Jeddo, Sugar Notch, Warrior Run and Yatesville.

The study notes flood risk does not only stem from heavy rain or snowmelt. There are 33 state-regulated, high-hazard dams within the county and eight federally-owned, high-hazard dams in or upstream of the county, it said.

Among the updates on the reassuring side: the probability of an earthquake occurring in the county is “very low” because it does not sit on any fault lines, the plan said.

Dan Reese, county acting GIS/planning and zoning director, told council the plan is ready for county and municipal adoption because the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved it at the end of July.

To date, seven of the 76 municipalities have passed adoption resolutions, he said.

Benne said the document helps government entities recognize strengths and vulnerabilities and provides data to strengthen grant applications and possibly build partnerships to close gaps.

FEMA also is now requiring each municipality to identify proposed actions for at-risk hazards, Benne said.